Rather than casting a male model for his first Saint Laurent menswear campaign, Hedi Slimane hired Saskia de Brauw, the 31-year-old Chanel favorite, who appeared in last year's Pirelli Calendar.
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Slimane styled and photographed de Brauw for the campaign last month in Los Angeles. When the brand revealed the first images from the campaign online late last week, it noted that there wasn't a makeup artist or hairstylist on set, allowing de Brauw's natural androgyny to shine through in the pictures. That makes sense for this campaign: When Slimane designed Dior Homme, his skinny suits for men were so popular that women snapped them up as well, and now all the pieces in this campaign will be available for both genders in January 2013.
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The ads are also the public's first look at Slimane's menswear for Saint Laurent. In May, the house announced that only buyers would see Slimane's first women's resort and men's Spring collection so that he could make his formal debut at his Spring 2013 women's show in Paris.
br>Photos courtesy of Saint Laurent